Pantos and Pinatas by Carolyn

Posted Thursday, January 17th, 2013

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday! This trip has been amazing! This morning we studied about the parable of the woman and the judge. The woman was so determined that she changed the judges mind. Sometimes it is easy to give up on unanswered prayers. But we learned today that God wants us to be like the determined woman and continue to pray for unanswered requests. I graduate this year and since the start of the semester I’ve been asking God what he wants me to do after graduation. Even though I haven’t gotten the exact answer, I was reminded today that that doesn’t mean he is not listening.

I am in the Soccer site which I love because I am on the women’s soccer team at Greenville. It has been such an amazing experience! The kids can barely communicate with us, but through soccer and playing games, we have built amazing relationships. Today Kelsey and I got to talk to tell a bible story. We told them about Jesus visiting Simon and the sinful woman coming in and washing his feet. Our theme in all of our studies have been showing God the glory, so we told them that God loves us so much that he forgives us when we push him away. He deserves the glory because he died for our sins.

I usually play with the younger kids and today we played their favorite Pato, Pato, Ganzo (Duck, Duck, Goose). We literally played it for almost 30 minutes straight, but the coaches were getting a little dizzy so we changed to their next favorite, “I Want, I Want”. This is a game Becca taught them. We sing a song in English (which now they know by heart) and the person that’s it gets to pick a dance and we all do it. It is so funny to watch the 5 year-old Alba dance and sing her heart out in English. Playing with them is really how we communicate.

For dinner tonight we had delicious fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and rice. My stomach has seriously stretched since we’ve gotten here! The food has been amazing! After dinner we had game night led by Seth and Jill. Little did they know how competitive this group was! We broke up into four groups and played one minute games. For example, one of the games was to put pantyhose on your head with a ball at the end and knock down the cups. We played about 10 mini games and we ended up having a tie for first place between “Team 2, We’re Better Than You” (my team) and “Los Ganadores”. It came down to a rubber band game where one person from each group had to knock down a pyramid of cups with a rubber band. It was Anthony vs. Cory and it was intense, but unfortunately, “Los Ganadores” won. Just to give you an idea of the intensity, Bobby was on my team and Becca on the other…we found out that they probably should not be allowed to play against each other. They were a little bit intense, but so was everyone else.

Afterwards we got to hit a pinata because we were celebrating Elliot and Clay’s Birthday. In Nicaragua they dance every time they swing. Clay had some dance moves I’ve never even seen before…it’s probably because he’s from Texas. The most exciting part of the night was when Elliot broke the stick and sent it flying towards Frank, Becca, and me. We all saw our lives flash before our eyes, but luckily it missed us all. It was Andrew though that broke the pinata sending 25 college students into a candy frenzy! Today was an awesome day, but I have to admit, while I miss America, these days are going way too fast.